Blog 7: The iPhone/iPod Touch IS a competitive portable platform!

Over the last couple of months I've become kind of frustrated with gamers, the gaming media and so called 'experts' stating that Apples iPhone/Ipod Touch isn't a good platform for videogame development and doesn't deserve to be classed in the same school at the Nintendo DS or Sony's Playstation Portable. As an iPod Touch owner I have found myself more and more interested in the applications found on Apple's popular platform. There is no doubting that it's yet to find it's feet in the competitive videogame environment and there is indeed a bucket load of garbage to be found in the Application store. But can't the same be said for the other two portable platforms?

I wish to inform you of another matter I've been thinking about recently. For many Sony's Playstation Portable or PSP as it is fondly now known as, as become a source of some amusement especially when compared to the hugely successful Nintendo DS (Dual Screen). I do indeed own a Nintendo DS and I'm lucky to say that I own two PSP's one being a very limited version that I won some years back. Anyway, is it not said that a gaming platform should be judged on the games it offers and the amount said gamer plays them? Well I can confortably tell you that I have spent twice as much time playing games or applications (take your pick) on my iPod Touch then I have on both my PSP's. Not to mention that I have played a number of truly fun games. As I said eariler in this article, there's simply no denying that many of the more appealing games avaliable for Apple's platform are infact reworkings of games we have seen on the Internet in years gone by. But some of those games wouldn't do badly if they were seen on both Nintendo and Sony's portable systems. So why is it that the people of the gaming World don't take the portable platform seriously?

Well, I believe one of the reasons comes down to the actual name. It's worth mentioning here that both the iPhone and iPod Touch are almost equal in features when it comes to gaming on the platform. This is because they both use touch screen technology and the only real true difference come in small but not hugely impacting differences, such as the iPhone's ability to use speech which is something the iPod Touch cannot do. So from now on I shall only discuss both by talking about the iPhone as it saves me typing 'iPhone/iPod Touch' down every second. So back to topic, well I personally believe one of the main reasons for the attitude towards Apple's newest piece of technology is to do with it's name. Simple but it does have a big impact, of course the 'phone' as to tell potential purchasers that it is indeed a phone so the name is a given. But when we think of phones, and then we think of videogames. We get this image of terrible painful wastes of development time, the types of games you see purchasable on the back of magazines. Games such as 'XZ Racing' or 'Jungle Puzzle Quest' and you get the picture of what I'm writing about here. So it's probably understandable that most people have a pre-created image of what type of games the iPhone would offer and without a doubt there is a large number of games I wouldn't play even if they payed me. 

But, couldn't the same be said for the other two portable platforms. The same can especially be said for the PSP, a system which though I love in it's own way as clearly never reached it's aim when it comes to game development. So I find the overall attitude towards the iPhone not being a competitive portable platform disappointing and just wish it was taken more serious by those in the gaming media and of course gamers alike. I totally understand certain views on it and it's pretty clear that certain genres of games simply don't work well on a touch screen. But there are many that do and those genre do need to be better represented by developers willing to take the time to develop a application worthy of the publics cash. When I bought my iPod Touch I never actually considered spending money on applications, yet I have easily spent over thirty sterling on quite a few different apps that I have found to be very enjoyable and fun while on the go. I can't even recall the last PSP game I bought, so I keep asking myself why the iPhone isn't more loved by the gaming World. Maybe in some respects I'm being a little hard on the 'Gaming World' because it's quite clear from reviews found within the apore that quite a large amount of iPhone or iPod Touch users do indeed have a passion for the uniquness of the applications avaliable. There is something quite interesting about opening up the store and seeing what everyone is currently downloading and enjoying, not to mention that some none videogame applications are honest to god useful for both the actual iPhone and any external technology. For example there are a number of very good remote applications currently avaliable, which allows you to use your iPhone as a portable remote in itself for use on other pieces of technology such as your own PC. 

Ok, so I might not be winning you over when it comes to this debate. But I do honestly believe that gamers shouldn't ignore the iPhone as a gaming platform worthy of your hard earned cash. Yes it does need a larger collection of better developers who will be able to get the best out of the technology on offer but it's also important that it doesn't lose it's homebrew collection of small developers. For many applications currently avaliable are created by much smaller teams then you'd realise and even after release many developers will continue to build upon the application with each update. But for the iPhone to be taken as a serious competitor in the portable gaming environment then bigger developers need to get involved, some are already there for instance Electronic Arts have already released a good few titles such as Spore and SimCity. But that isn't enough for it to be taken seriously, especially when you consider that EA are seen as a money hungry company and would release their employees toenail clippings if they thought folks would buy them. So at the moment it's probably fair to say that the iPhone needs more time to really make it's mark, but it should still be taken more seriously then it currently is. Maybe it's true future will lie in the games developed in the near future, take Rolando for instance. This new iPhone game does indeed borrow many concepts and ideas from a number of popular portable games such as LocoRoco and Patapon but for some odd reason, the concept just seems to suit the stylings of the touch screen perfectly and it is a fantastic game from the time I've spent with it. So maybe the gaming world will look differently upon Apple's iPhone in years to come. Though by then I'm pretty sure newer generations will have been released. I guess time will truly tell us if it's worthy of being known as more then just another mobile phone platform.

EXTRA NOTES!!
I'm quite interested to hear what other gamers think about the iPhone's gaming abilities and if you think it should be taken more seriously or maybe you totally disagree and think it will always been seen as nothing more then just a platform for poor cheap developers to make poor games not worth our spare time. Please let me know in comments as I'm quite interested to read what folks think about the iPhone as a gaming platform.

A massive thanks for taking the time to read this, appriated!
Joseph Bayliss (TrueEnglishGent)

Over the last couple of months I've become kind of frustrated with gamers, the gaming media and so called 'experts' stating that Apples iPhone/Ipod Touch isn't a good platform for videogame development and doesn't deserve to be classed in the same school at the Nintendo DS or Sony's Playstation Portable. As an iPod Touch owner I have found myself more and more interested in the applications found on Apple's popular platform. There is no doubting that it's yet to find it's feet in the competitive videogame environment and there is indeed a bucket load of garbage to be found in the Application store. But can't the same be said for the other two portable platforms?

I wish to inform you of another matter I've been thinking about recently. For many Sony's Playstation Portable or PSP as it is fondly now known as, as become a source of some amusement especially when compared to the hugely successful Nintendo DS (Dual Screen). I do indeed own a Nintendo DS and I'm lucky to say that I own two PSP's one being a very limited version that I won some years back. Anyway, is it not said that a gaming platform should be judged on the games it offers and the amount said gamer plays them? Well I can confortably tell you that I have spent twice as much time playing games or applications (take your pick) on my iPod Touch then I have on both my PSP's. Not to mention that I have played a number of truly fun games. As I said eariler in this article, there's simply no denying that many of the more appealing games avaliable for Apple's platform are infact reworkings of games we have seen on the Internet in years gone by. But some of those games wouldn't do badly if they were seen on both Nintendo and Sony's portable systems. So why is it that the people of the gaming World don't take the portable platform seriously?

Well, I believe one of the reasons comes down to the actual name. It's worth mentioning here that both the iPhone and iPod Touch are almost equal in features when it comes to gaming on the platform. This is because they both use touch screen technology and the only real true difference come in small but not hugely impacting differences, such as the iPhone's ability to use speech which is something the iPod Touch cannot do. So from now on I shall only discuss both by talking about the iPhone as it saves me typing 'iPhone/iPod Touch' down every second. So back to topic, well I personally believe one of the main reasons for the attitude towards Apple's newest piece of technology is to do with it's name. Simple but it does have a big impact, of course the 'phone' as to tell potential purchasers that it is indeed a phone so the name is a given. But when we think of phones, and then we think of videogames. We get this image of terrible painful wastes of development time, the types of games you see purchasable on the back of magazines. Games such as 'XZ Racing' or 'Jungle Puzzle Quest' and you get the picture of what I'm writing about here. So it's probably understandable that most people have a pre-created image of what type of games the iPhone would offer and without a doubt there is a large number of games I wouldn't play even if they payed me. 

But, couldn't the same be said for the other two portable platforms. The same can especially be said for the PSP, a system which though I love in it's own way as clearly never reached it's aim when it comes to game development. So I find the overall attitude towards the iPhone not being a competitive portable platform disappointing and just wish it was taken more serious by those in the gaming media and of course gamers alike. I totally understand certain views on it and it's pretty clear that certain genres of games simply don't work well on a touch screen. But there are many that do and those genre do need to be better represented by developers willing to take the time to develop a application worthy of the publics cash. When I bought my iPod Touch I never actually considered spending money on applications, yet I have easily spent over thirty sterling on quite a few different apps that I have found to be very enjoyable and fun while on the go. I can't even recall the last PSP game I bought, so I keep asking myself why the iPhone isn't more loved by the gaming World. Maybe in some respects I'm being a little hard on the 'Gaming World' because it's quite clear from reviews found within the apore that quite a large amount of iPhone or iPod Touch users do indeed have a passion for the uniquness of the applications avaliable. There is something quite interesting about opening up the store and seeing what everyone is currently downloading and enjoying, not to mention that some none videogame applications are honest to god useful for both the actual iPhone and any external technology. For example there are a number of very good remote applications currently avaliable, which allows you to use your iPhone as a portable remote in itself for use on other pieces of technology such as your own PC. 

Ok, so I might not be winning you over when it comes to this debate. But I do honestly believe that gamers shouldn't ignore the iPhone as a gaming platform worthy of your hard earned cash. Yes it does need a larger collection of better developers who will be able to get the best out of the technology on offer but it's also important that it doesn't lose it's homebrew collection of small developers. For many applications currently avaliable are created by much smaller teams then you'd realise and even after release many developers will continue to build upon the application with each update. But for the iPhone to be taken as a serious competitor in the portable gaming environment then bigger developers need to get involved, some are already there for instance Electronic Arts have already released a good few titles such as Spore and SimCity. But that isn't enough for it to be taken seriously, especially when you consider that EA are seen as a money hungry company and would release their employees toenail clippings if they thought folks would buy them. So at the moment it's probably fair to say that the iPhone needs more time to really make it's mark, but it should still be taken more seriously then it currently is. Maybe it's true future will lie in the games developed in the near future, take Rolando for instance. This new iPhone game does indeed borrow many concepts and ideas from a number of popular portable games such as LocoRoco and Patapon but for some odd reason, the concept just seems to suit the stylings of the touch screen perfectly and it is a fantastic game from the time I've spent with it. So maybe the gaming world will look differently upon Apple's iPhone in years to come. Though by then I'm pretty sure newer generations will have been released. I guess time will truly tell us if it's worthy of being known as more then just another mobile phone platform.

EXTRA NOTES!!
I'm quite interested to hear what other gamers think about the iPhone's gaming abilities and if you think it should be taken more seriously or maybe you totally disagree and think it will always been seen as nothing more then just a platform for poor cheap developers to make poor games not worth our spare time. Please let me know in comments as I'm quite interested to read what folks think about the iPhone as a gaming platform.

A massive thanks for taking the time to read this, appriated!
Joseph Bayliss (TrueEnglishGent)